As processors have become smaller, they have proliferated and spread. Consumer electronics of almost any size now include controllers or processors and perform many functions that used to be the domain of desktop computers. One such device, the cellular phone, once dedicated to transmitting voice communication is now being used to transmit in addition to voice communication a variety of other data. Some cellular phones allow users to connect to the Internet and browse web sites; other cellular phones allow users to check and send email.
In this increasingly connected world, options for sending messages are also increasing. Some people may be reached through paging, voice mail, email, and other wireless communication devices; others prefer providing only an email address. Some people are on-call 24 hours a day; others prefer to receive messages from 9 to 5. With all the communication options available, it is becoming more of a challenge to send a message through the appropriate transport when multiple recipients are involved. For example, a user may be required to use one system to send the message to recipients through a pager transport, another system to send the message to recipients through a voice mail transport, and yet another system to deliver the message to recipients through an email transport. Alternatively, a user may use one device to send the message to pager, voice mail, and email recipients but may be required to manually group recipients of each type together and use different options on the device to send the message to each group through the appropriate transport.